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I would like to know what are 20 interesting facts about your hometown or place of residence (cities only)?

I'll start with Atlanta:

1. Before being named Atlanta, this place was originally called Terminus and then Marthaville.

2. Atlanta was developed as a railroad junction originally in the year 1830. Since it was of strategic importance, the army forces of Union General William Sherman destroyed the place during the Civil War.

3. The symbol of the city is the mythological creature “Phoenix”. This is due to the major fire incident in which the city was destroyed. The scene is also depicted in the movie ‘Gone With the Wind. After the fire, Atlanta rose from the ashes and has today become all the more appealing and beautiful.

4. In Atlanta, the state Capitol building is actually layered with 43 ounces of pure gold, which was mined out from Dahlonega, GA!

5. The world’s largest cable-supported dome stadium is the Georgia Dome. It is a fine example of marvelous modern architecture and also hosted the 2000 Super Bowl besides, gymnastics, basketball and handball in 1996 Olympic Games.

6. Atlanta is famous for being the birthplace of the famous Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also the birthplace of the popular soft drink Coca-Cola. As of today, some of world’s major corporations and Fortune 500 companies are based in Atlanta that includes CNN, UPS, Georgia Pacific, Sun Trust Bank, AT&T Mobility, Newell Rubbermaid, NCR, The Home Depot, Delta Airlines, and more.

7. Atlanta is famous for having the largest toll-free dialing area in the world, the most shopping center space per capita along with Chicago and the world's largest 10K race known as “Peachtree Road Race” that sees 45,000 runners annually!

8. The main North-South byway in Atlanta is the Peachtree Street. Apparently, there are more than 100 streets, drives and avenues in the city by the name of Peachtree.

9. Atlanta is host to well over 16.5 million visitors each year.

10. Atlanta is the fifth city to be the capital of the state of Georgia. It was preceded by Savannah, Augusta, Louisville and Milledgeville.

11. The Varsity Restaurant has earned the distinction of serving the highest volume of Coca-Cola anywhere. It dispenses nearly 3 million servings of Coca-Cola annually.

12. The Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, then named Candler Field, made great strides in 1942 when it set a record of 1,700 takeoffs and landings in one day, earning the airport its title as "the nation's busiest airport in terms of flight operations.” Candler Field's name was changed in 1946 to Atlanta Municipal. Before becoming the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the airport was also named the William B. Hartsfield Atlanta Airport in February 1971 and renamed again as the William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in July 1971. After the death of former mayor Maynard H. Jackson in 2003, the airport was renamed to its current name of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

13. With a passenger terminal complex equivalent in size to more than 45 football fields, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport bears the proud distinction of being "the world’s busiest passenger airport."

14. There are approximately 55 streets with the name “Peachtree” in Georgia.

15. Atlanta has 130 retail centers and 54 public parks, and the city is home to the fourteenth largest mall in the nation – The Mall of Georgia.

16. Atlanta has more shopping center space per capita than any other city except Chicago.

17. Atlanta is home to the Peachtree Road Race, the largest 10K race in the world with approximately 45,000 runners annually.

18. Atlanta is the only city in North America destroyed by a fire as an act of war, when General Sherman burned the city on November 15, 1864. Today, the city's symbol is the Phoenix, a legendary bird of Egyptian mythology that rose from its own ashes with renewed strength and beauty.

19. Atlanta is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the largest museum in the world solely dedicated to a famous civil rights leader.

20. The Georgia Aquarium opened Nov. 23, 2005, and is the world's largest aquarium. Offering more than half a million square feet, covering 9 ½ acres and adjacent to the Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA, is home to tens of thousands of animals including 500 species around the world. The Georgia Aquarium holds more than 8 million gallons of fresh and marina water, and also features 60 habitats including 12,000 square feet of viewing windows, topping a total of 328 tons of acrylic.

... Dallas has four times more restaurants per person than New York City.

... The Six Flags Over Texas theme park is larger than Disneyland.

... Dallas has the world's largest singular column-free exhibit hall in the world at 203,000 square feet.

... Dallas has the largest urban arts district in America.

... Dallas has more than 115 public art works scattered throughout the city.

... Dallas has the world's largest bronze monument, standing at the Dallas Convention Center, with more than 40 bigger-than-life longhorn steers, horses and cowboys.

... The integrated circuit computer chip was invented in Dallas.

... Dallas has the world's largest wholesale merchandise mart, with 6.9 million square feet.

... The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden features the largest public selection of azaleas in the United States.

... The largest model train display in America is in the lobby of the Dallas Children's Medical Center.

... Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other major U.S. city.

... There are 50,000 acres of public park land and over 60 lakes within a 100-mile radius of the city.

... The McKinney Avenue Trolley, which operates daily, is the largest volunteer-run system in the world.

... The frozen margarita was invented in Dallas.

... Dallas' Farmers Market is one of the largest open-air markets in the country with over 5 million visitors annually.

... There are more non-stop flights to Dallas from more U.S. cities than to any other airport in the world.

... The City of Dallas comprises 384 square miles.

... The Mesquite Championship Rodeo is broadcast on Fox Sports and is one of the world's best-known rodeos with over 250,000 in attendance yearly.

... There are more than 160 museums, galleries and artistic attractions in Dallas and more than 110 live performances every night.

... The Dallas Public Library in downtown has on permanent display one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence.

... The Dallas Light Rail is the newest and most modern urban transportation system in the country.

... The new Nasher Sculpture Center is home of the world's largest private collection of modern sculpture.

... The Meadows Museum of Art at Southern Methodist University has the world's largest collection of Spanish art outside of Spain.

... Dallas is home to two of the top airlines for service and quality — American and Southwest.

...One of the interesting facts about Dallas is that it is really windier than Chicago. Chicago may be called the windy city, but annual statistics show that the average wind speeds in Dallas are a bit higher

...One fact about Dallas is that the first convenience store was started in Dallas. A man who ran a store selling ice decided to add a few convenient items like milk and eggs. He added more and more. Eventually it became the Southland Corporation. The 7-11 stores were born.

6. we are often called the city of good neighbors, the 716, and the city with a soul

7. michael jackson was a bills fan

8. Smooth criminal was filmed in buffalo

9. Thriller was fillmed in buffalo

10. beat it was filmed in buffalo

How do you know MJ and Brad Pitt were and is a bills fan? Also I am fairly sure that those videos were filmed in LA particularly Beat It. If I am wrong and you are right can you provide some type of proof?

A French-Canadian trader by the name Louis LeFleur founded Jackson in 1821. For many years, Jackson was known as LeFleur's Bluff. The capital was later named after Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president.

The world's first human lung transplant was performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, located in Jackson, in 1963.

The world's first human heart transplant was performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1964.

Known as the Olympics of Dance, the USA International Ballet Competition is held every four years in Jackson, Mississippi. The other three years it is held in Shanghai, China; Varna, Bulgaria; and Helsinki, Finland.

H.A. Cole in Jackson, MS, developed the cleaning product Pine-Sol.[SIZE=4][/SIZE]

Inventor James D. Byrd of Clinton, a suburb town of Jackson, holds seven patents and developed the plastic used as a heat shield by NASA.

Every commercial airliner has at least one hydraulic component manufactured by Vickers in Jackson.

The McCoy Federal Building in Jackson is the first federal building in the US named for a black man. Dr. A. H. McCoy was a dentist and business leader.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty was born in Jackson in 1909 and lived most of her life there until her death in 2001. Her memoir of development as a writer, One Writer's Beginnings (1984), presented a charming picture of the city in the early 20th century. The main Jackson Public Library was named in her honor.

Author Richard Wright lived in Jackson as an adolescent and young man in the 1910s and 1920s. He related his experience in his memoir Black Boy (1945). He described the harsh and largely terror-filled life poor African-Americans experienced in the South and northern ghettos under segregation in the early twentieth century.

In Jackson, on June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers, civil rights activist, was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith. Thousands marched in his funeral procession to protest the assassination. It wasn't until 1994 when prosecutors Ed Peters and Bobby DeLaughter finally obtained a murder conviction of De La Beckwith. A portion of Highway 49, all of Delta Drive and Jackson-Evers International Airport were named in honor of Medgar Evers.

In June 1966, Jackson was also the terminus of the James Meredith March, organized by James Meredith, the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

Jackson, Mississippi rests along the Mississippi Blues Trail and received its first Mississippi Blues Trail designation marker for Subway Lounge, which was a blues & jazz lounge that opened in 1943.

Mal's St. Patty's Day Parade, Jackson's annual St. Patrick's Day festival, is the fourth largest in the nation with over 50,000 people, and is held on the Saturday of or after March 17.

"Jackson" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler about a married couple who find that the "fire" has gone out of their relationship. The song relates the desire of the husband and wife to travel to Jackson, Mississippi, where they each look forward to a new life free of the unhappy relationship. Famous covers of the song include the 1968 Grammy Award winner by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The song was performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (playing Johnny Cash and June Carter) in the 2005 film Walk the Line.

Jackson is home to the world famous Malaco Records recording studio, where acts such as Paul Simon, Johnnie Taylor, Dorothy Moore, Little Milton, and the Mississippi Mass Choir recorded.

Rocker Kid Rock made a song about Jackson, aptly titled "Jackson, Mississippi", in 2003.

2007 saw a historic first for Mississippi as Hinds County sheriff Malcolm McMillin was appointed as the new police chief in Jackson. McMillin was both the county sheriff and city police chief until 2009 when he stepped down to the disagreements with the current mayor.

1. Portland was founded by 2 men, one from Portland, Maine and one from Boston. Each man wished to name the new city after his hometown, so it was to be decided by a coin toss. Had the coin toss landed on the other side, Portland, Oregon would actually be Boston, Oregon today. (I secretly wish it were)

2. Portland is considered the "greenest" city in America by almost any measure. And sometimes even one of the greenest cities in the world.

3. Portland has more strip clubs per capita than any other U.S. city, even Las Vegas.

4. Portland has the most brew pubs per capita of any major U.S. city, and our beer is actually good stuff, not like that crap from Milwaukee.

5. Home to the largest independent book store in the world (Powell's Books, with over 1,000,000 books).

6. Home to one of the largest Urban parks in the country (Forest Park), it is approximately 6 times larger than Central Park and his home to old growth forest and over 70 miles of hiking trails.

7. Largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

8. Portland is home to a unique climate which is ideal for growing roses and represents the best such climate in the world, hence the nickname "Rose city".

9. Home to the 2nd largest copper statue in the country. The largest being the Statue of Liberty.

10. Port of Portland is the largest exporter of wheat in the country, and 2nd largest in the world.

Los Angeles:

1. Los Angeles is regarded as the entrepreneurial capital of the world. It has about 200,000 small businesses, which is twice as many small businesses that can be found in any other region of the United States. It also has the highest number of women-owned businesses in the country.

2. Los Angeles has more than 80 stage theaters and 300 museums, more than any other U.S. city.

3. The port of Los Angeles is the busiest in the U.S. and when combined with the adjacent port of Long Beach, it is the 5th busiest in the world (busiest port outside of Asia).

4. Greater Los Angeles has the third highest gross metropolitan product in the world, after only Tokyo and New York.

5. There are at least 224 languages spoken in the Los Angeles area. Far more than any other city in the country.

6. Considered the birthplace of the internet.

7. If Los Angeles County were a country, it would have the 18th largest economy in the world; if the entire metropolitan area were counted, it would be the 11th largest.

8. The Los Angeles Convention Center is the largest solar-generating building in North America.

9. 2nd highest percentage of foreign-born residents in the country at at least 40%. 2nd only to Miami.

Hip Hop? obviously. no question. A truly South Bronx/Harlem institution and a genuine thank you to New York for making the sound of my generation.

Punk? INCREDIBLY debatable. Bands like the Stooges and MC5 were coming out of Detroit in the late 60s. Even earlier, garage bands from across the US and England influenced what we call punk. Check out Psychedelic Reaction by Count Five, written in 1966 in California and pretty punk sounding. Although I think this song has a legitimate claim as the first punk song I would say the "birthplace" of punk is a claim deserved by Detroit for having MC5 and the Stooges who are 2 of the first real punk bands.

I know this is off topic but I just had to chime in.

As far as the OP goes, I will brainstorm some gems for Boston and get back to you all.

EDIT: I just was researching a little and found out that the first time "punk rock" was used was to describe ? and the Mysterians, another Michigan band. Their hit song 96 tears isn't what we typically think of as punk now but it was still the first time the term was ever used.

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